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UAB School of Health Professions Current News

UAB Health Administration Case Competition crowns champion

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Created: February 26th, 2016

University of Minnesota, 2016 Case Competition Champion with Will Ferniany, Ph.D., CEO, UAB Health System, sponsor of the competitionThe University of Minnesota defeated 37 other teams to win the 10th annual UAB Health Administration Case Competition. Each year, graduate students from CAHME-accredited programs across the United States and Canada travel to Birmingham to compete in this capstone experience.

The preliminary round, held Thursday, February 25, featured all 38 teams in the morning. They were narrowed down to 12 semifinalists that competed in the afternoon.

On Friday, February 26, the six finalists – Army-Baylor University, Saint Louis University, Trinity University, University of Minnesota, defending champion University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and University of Utah – presented one more time to the panel of judges.

The Top 3 finishers were:

University of Minnesota

University of Utah

University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Minnesota finished third last year and second in 2013. This is their second championship having won the title in 2010.

The Case Competition, hosted by the UAB Department of Health Services Administration, allows student competitors to test their analytic abilities, teamwork and communication in solving a real-life, real-time case.

The 11th annual event will be held in Birmingham February 22 - 24, 2017.

UAB PT alumni honored at Combined Sections Meeting

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Created: February 24th, 2016

Kate Stribling and Ellen Strunk at CSMCongratulations to Kate Stribling, UAB PT ‘11, and Ellen Strunk, UAB PT ‘91, who won major honors at the Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association.

Stribling, a Physical Therapy Resident at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, was awarded the Carol Gildenberg Dichter Memorial PCS Scholarship. The scholarship was created in 2003 and is designed to fund pediatric physical therapists that wish to earn Pediatric Clinical Specialist (PCS) credentials.

PA students help Integrative Healthcare Summit

Christophe Jackson, Christy Franklin, Valerie Goodwin, Bellamy Hawkins and Kristen Bourg were members of the “Ultrasound Workshop” student panel on Saturday. Sarah Balladeres, Hawkins and Patterson all participated in the Opening Mixer the previous evening. The trio served as ambassadors for the PA program, the Department of Clinical and Diagnostics Sciences and the School of Health Professions answering questions from students in attendance.

Epps elected president of Society for Simulation in Healthcare

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Created: February 17th, 2016

Epps elected SSH presidentChad Epps, M.D., Associate Professor in the UAB School of Health Professions, has been elected President of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). The SSH is an international organization dedicated to improving performance and reducing errors in patient care. Epps, who will serve as president for one year, was elected by a vote of over 3000 members.

“SSH is a global member-driven organization that aims to improve healthcare through simulation modalities” said Epps, who also serves as Associate Director for the UAB Office of Interprofessional Simulation for Innovative Clinical Practice (OIPS). “It’s an exciting time to lead the Society as we are implementing a new five year strategic plan to increase visibility of healthcare simulation and bring additional value to our members, institutions, and patients we serve.”

The SSH recognizes that simulation in healthcare education is a paradigm shift by encouraging all healthcare practitioners – no matter how much experience they have – to gain critical hands on experience in simulated environments without endangering lives.

The UAB OIPS, which was created in 2012, is a joint venture between UAB and the UAB Health System with a mission to improve patient care outcomes by providing simulation-based techniques in education and training for the UAB community.

Berner paper named among year's most influential in nursing informatics

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Created: February 12th, 2016

Original story by Jimmy Creed, UAB School of Nursing

Eta Berner, Ed.D.The Nursing Informatics-Working Group of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), recently named a research paper by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Health Professions Professor Eta S. Berner, Ed.D., and UAB School of Nursing Professor and Assistant Dean of Clinical Simulation and Technology Jacqueline Moss, PhD, RN, FAAN, one of the five most influential papers in nursing informatics for 2015.

Medication administration errors by nurses in acute-care settings can be deadly so it is vital that those charged with completing such crucial tasks have as much clear information and support as they can get throughout the process. Moss clearly recalls this from her days as an intensive care nurse, and set out to evaluate and enhance the clinical decision support tools for medication administration safety available to nurses in acute-care settings.

Moss, along with Berner, who teaches in the Master of Science in Health Informatics program and is director of the UAB Center for Health Informatics for Patient Safety/Quality (CHIPS/Q), conducted a study that defined three distinct characteristics of the decision support acute-care nurses want to receive in such critical situations.

The SNMMI-TS hosts the two-day session, conducted by SNMMI-TS leadership and key members. The academy curriculum is a combination of lectures and team building exercises. It is designed to develop the attendees’ leadership skills and enhance their ability to evolve into leadership positions within nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and the professional society.

Collins, a former member of the UAB NMT Advisory Board; Glasgow, a teacher and the clinical coordinator for UAB NMT; and Lindars, a past president of the Alabama Society of Nuclear Medicine, were selected based on their involvement in the national SNMMI, the ASNM and the field of nuclear medicine. In addition to their involvement, the three were judged on references and answers they provided to narrative questions from the SNMMI-TS leadership to be chosen to attend the academy.

HCM alumnus Hester is Young Alumni Achievement Award Winner

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Created: February 11th, 2016

Pam Paustian, Joshua Hester, Dean Harold JonesJoshua D. Hester, MHA, assistant CEO at Gadsden Regional Medical Center and 2011 alumnus of the UAB Health Care Management program, has been named the 2015 School of Health Professions Young Alumni Achievement Award winner. The award is given to those who have graduated with the first degree from SHP within the past 10 years and have made significant professional accomplishments at an early stage in their careers.

In just over two years, Hester has risen from administrative projects coordinator and manager at University of South Alabama Health System, to chief operating officer at Troy Regional Medical Center to his current position within Community Health Systems.

Hester is “…what this award represents.”

“Intelligent, expressive, adaptable, responsible, unassuming, mature, creative, enthusiastic, motivated, emotionally intelligent and all-together excellent – that is how I would describe Josh Hester if I could only use adjectives,” said Pam Paustian, Ph.D., program director and professor, UAB Health Care Management. “I would place Josh in the top five percent of students, now alumni, that I have worked with over my 20+ years in education. He is an ideal example of what this award represents.”

Nutrition's Chusyd awarded grant through Smithsonian Institution

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Created: February 11th, 2016

Daniella Chusyd at the Birmingham ZooDaniella Chusyd, a student in the UAB PhD Nutrition Sciences program and the Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC), and Dr. Janine Brown, a reproductive physiologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, have been awarded a grant through the Smithsonian’s Scholarly Studies Awards for Science program titled “Novel assessments of body composition and relation to metabolic status and fat stores in Asian elephants.”

The study will compare female Asian elephants housed in zoos across the United States to female Asian elephants in tourist camps in Thailand. Chusyd says the team is looking at the association between fat distribution and metabolic and reproductive hormones and physical activity levels, and is based on research by Brown on associations between excess body weight and reproductive health problems in zoo elephants.

The Bachelor of Science in Health Care Management degree prepares students for mid-level management positions in a variety of health care settings.

Curriculum for the degree includes five options:

Long-term care administration track

Pre-professional track

Health care management/occupational therapy fast track

General manager track

Clinical manager track

The “smart choice” ranking by SuperScholar was developed to help prospective students find high-quality online programs that fit their schedules and their budgets. Schools were evaluated based on market reputation, flexibility, student satisfaction, accessibility and affordability.